


As For Tonight

by city_bright



Category: The Mindy Project
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-26 21:10:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13866084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/city_bright/pseuds/city_bright
Summary: Season 1 AU based on a one-line prompt from the-moon-dust-writings on Tumblr





	As For Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> I know I should be finishing my other fics, but as I was trying to get back into the mindset to write them, this happened instead.

Danny releases a deep sound that’s simultaneously a sigh and a groan as he sits shoulder to shoulder with Mindy - his “partner in crime,” as she calls herself, which he refuses to acknowledge.

“Look, I can tell you’re really mad, but look on the bright side, we now have matching bracelets,” she says brightly, bringing up her hands higher. 

“You mean handcuffs?” he scoffs. “Only with you would this be happening. You’re unbelievable.” He lets out another exasperated sigh.

“Oh, please, this is the most interesting thing to ever happen to you. I am doing you a favor, old man.” 

She flips her hair with a practiced tilt of her head, and he’s annoyed at how not annoyed he is by their circumstances. She was arrested for disorderly conduct (again) after causing a scene at Shauna’s wedding (typical), and he was arrested for throwing a punch during said scene. As he looks back on the evening, the wedding of a police officer was the worst place to cause a scene, but there was nothing he could do about it now anyway.

Three hours later, they were finally processed and free to go. 

“Aww, we don’t have matching bracelets anymore!” she sadly exclaims as they walk into the brisk New York evening.

“It’s worrying that you’re fixating on that.” He breathes in deeply, relishing the fresh air coming in from the Hudson. “You wanna get a drink?”

“Absolutely not! That was the thing that got us jailed in the first place!”

He shrugs. “That’s never stopped you before. Come on,” he encourages with a playful nudge to her shoulder. “My treat. I think we deserve a shot or two.”

She mentally weighs the pros and cons, and yeah, she could use another drink. “Yeah, you’re right. I have been through a very traumatic experience.”

“Spending three hours in a police station is hardly traumatic.”

“Shh, shh, be quiet, this is my tragic story, and I will not have you ruin it.” 

He sighs and lets her have her moment as they continue walking. The wind catches her off guard as they step out onto the concrete, and Mindy shivers as the dress she’s wearing was meant for an indoor wedding reception and not an outdoor excursion across the city. Without a word, he shrugs off his jacket and drapes it over her shoulders. 

“What about you?” pulling her arms through his jacket. “Won’t you be cold?”

He smiles because it makes no sense to him that she would ask something like that when she is already wrapping his jacket across her torso, but then again, she rarely ever makes sense. “No, I’ll be fine. We’re almost there anyway,” tilting his head towards a bar across the street. He opens the door for her and eyes a pair of stools at the bar. 

“Two shots, please.”

“Coming right up.” The bartender places two shot glasses in front of them, the sound of glass hitting wood giving Danny some sort of jolt back into reality.

He picks up a glass and raises it, carefully clinking his glass with hers. “Cheers.” It goes does smoothly, but Mindy coughs almost immediately after finishing her shot. “You okay?”

She nods her head vigorously. “Stronger than I expected. Give me another one,” her voice slightly hoarse from the burning alcohol. 

He raises a questioning eyebrow, and she gives it right back, challenging him to challenge her. “Two more, please,” he calls to the bartender.

The alcohol sloshes over the rim of the glass and onto her fingers as she lifts it up to her lips. The second shot goes down more easily, and by her fourth, it goes down like water, and he knows it’s time to go home before they get carried away again. “Okay, let’s go home. I think we’ve done enough damage to our livers and our records this evening.”

She slams the shot glass onto the bar as she swallows the last of the alcohol and nods her head in agreement. “Yeah, I did not carb up before this, so these shots are gonna go straight to my head.”

“Did you not carb up earlier?” he asks with a smirk, hoping it’s not too early to make a joke out of their arrests.

Her eyes dangerously pierces his, and it surprises him how sober she looks after four shots. “That’s very hurtful. You know damn well I did.”

“I was making sure because you did land us in jail with your drunkenness.”

“For only three hours! It was hardly jail,” she exclaims, following him out the door.

“You just said it was traumatic for you!”

“I was being dramatic! Don’t you know me by now, Daniel?!” She calls him Daniel when she’s drunk.

“Okay,” he laughs. “You’re drunk.”

“Yeah, and?”

“Nothing. Just making an observation.”

“That’s what I thought.” He smiles before turning away from her to look straight ahead. “Do you think people from work will ask about this? Ugh, that would be so embarrassing.”

“No, you’ll talk about it before they even get the chance to ask. You blab about everything.”

“Ex-squeeze me?” hitting him with her purse.

“What?! It’s true.”

“Yeah,” she pouts, “but you didn’t have to say it.” 

“Well, someone has to.”

“I suppose,” she offers, “but I guess it’s nice that you don’t judge me.”

“Who says I don’t? I judge you all the time. You’re ridiculous 98 percent of the time. You called handcuffs bracelets!”

“That’s rude. And offensive to the potential of handcuffs making a breakthrough in the fashion industry.”

“What are you talking about?! Look, it’s not rude. It’s...,” he pauses, “being honest.”

She nods thoughtfully as she makes a mental checklist of the people in her life who’ve been courageous enough to be honest with her, and Danny is one of the rare few. “Thanks, Danny,” she says, surprising herself.

“You’re welcome,” he smirks.

“Okay, don’t get a big head. It’s going to make you look disproportionate to your small body.”

“ _That_ was rude.”

“Hey man, I’m just being honest with you.”

He laughs harder than he thought he would, and he sniffles as the warmth of the alcohol wears away. 

“You’re cold,” she says quietly as she begins to take off his jacket.

“No, I’m fine, I promise,” he insists with the shake of his head. “You need it more than I do.”

She acquiesces and puts his jacket back on, but weaves her arm through his and holds onto his bicep to keep him warm the best she can. 

“You didn’t have to, but thanks.” He sniffles again, catching a bit of her floral perfume, and he feels dizzy all of a sudden, not sure if it’s from one too many shots of tequila or her perfume or the fact that he can feel her hands through his thin shirt.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asks worriedly as she pulls away. “I’m from Boston, I can withstand the cold.”

“Yeah, I’m okay,” he smiles at her because he is more than okay.

They reach her apartment stoop, and goosebumps run across her skin as she removes his jacket. He reaches for his jacket and looks down, hoping that she won’t be able to see the disappointment in his face that their night together is ending.

“Thanks for letting me wear your jacket.”

He shrugs. “You know, I actually had fun tonight, so...”

“Really?!” the smile on her face growing mischievously wide, “I told you I was doing you a favor.”

“Okay, you don’t need to get all,” he gestures towards her bright face, “but thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” she says proudly with a bow of her head.

“You tell anyone, and I will deny it until the day I die.”

“Ahh, there is the Daniel Castellano I know and love.” He swallows hard and wonders if she really meant it, but she must have heard what she said because her eyes go wide. “Oh, I didn’t mean to-“

“No, I know. You don’t need to,“ he trails off as he looks down at his shoes to avoid any further embarrassment from himself for thinking she might actually mean something like that.

She sighs in relief that he understands, and he thinks that sigh of relief hurt more than her backtracking, and he’s not sure why. He hates that it struck a chord. He gives her a small smile and wishes her a good night before walking down the steps, putting on his jacket in the process.

“Hey, Danny,” he looks up from the bottom of the steps, adjusting his collar, “have a good night.”

“You too.”

Satisfied with his response, she turns and crosses the threshold into her apartment lobby, and he doesn’t leave until the door clicks shut behind her. As he walks back home, he can smell her perfume on his jacket when the wind blows, and he pretends it doesn’t make him want her in ways he hasn’t before.

**Author's Note:**

> "Look, I can tell you’re really mad, but look on the bright side, we now have matching bracelets." "You mean handcuffs?" - this is the prompt I found from the-moon-dust-writings, and it screamed Mindy and Danny.


End file.
